Lauri Markkanen gets much better EuroBasket ranking

Lauri Markkanen's mission in the EuroBasket has been to remind the world just how good he is when he's unleashed. The Utah Jazz star has dominated the EuroBasket friendlies for his home country, Finland. His performances have stood out so well that he got the ranking he deserves among EuroBasket players as the fourth best player.

Markkanen is definitely not on the same level as some of his other NBA contemporaries playing in the tournament, like Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetkounmpo, and Luka Doncic, but he was ranked appropriately at No. 4 by EuroHoops.

This is a massive step forward compared to EuroBasket rankings from ESPN, which placed him at No. 7 behind those three, plus Alperen Sengun, Franz Wagner, and Kristaps Porzingis. Perhaps the reason why he got more love was because of how fantastic he looked for Finland in each exhibition.

Markkanen may not regularly put up 40-point performances, but he has shown himself to be talented enough in the NBA to be capable of doing that on that level. His re-establishing the kind of player he is in EuroBasket may have gotten him to rise through the ranks a bit.

Could Finland do some damage in the tournament?

While Markkanen himself looks like his old self again, we must remember that he is the only Finnish player in the NBA, and only one of three players in its country's history to be in the NBA. While he can do what he can, they'll need contributions from everyone.

More importantly, there will be NBA representation for a lot of foreign teams. Serbia features some excellent NBA talent that goes beyond Nikola Jokic. Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nikola Jovic, and Trsitan Vuckevic will also be on the team. While France won't have old friend Rudy Gobert, they'll still have Guerschon Yabusele, Bilal Coulibaly, Zaccharie Risacher, and Alex Sarr.

Some teams only have one player representing them, like Slovenia has Doncic and Greece has Antetokounmpo, but that will make them all the tougher to beat. This should be quite the experience for Jazz fans or any Markkanen stans.

And hey, if Finland doesn't succeed in the tournament, Jazz fans can always turn to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they can watch Jusuf Nurkic in action. Though to be fair, the latest intel coming from that situation isn't great.

Markkanen definitely has a chip on his shoulder in this tournament after the last season he just had in Utah. if he and Finland make a deep run, that would give the Jazz plenty of confidence for what's to come this season.